Basically, the NETs and AASL standards are good teaching practices that all teachers should focus on in the classroom. In fact, many teachers do this naturally without really needing the standards. They are not much different from the usual teaching standards except that they contain technology words and terms. The responsibility of teaching these standards to students rests with all teachers. The class subject provides the content, Humanities or Health in my case, and these standards provide the focus for using technology as a way to deliver, work with, and enhance the content.
For example, maybe ten years ago an “innovative product” that would demonstrative student creative thinking and construct knowledge might have been a handwritten or typed “magazine” about some historic event, like the US Civil War. About five years ago, you might assign a similar project using Publisher. However, now, I’d assign the project (if I were still teaching Georgia Studies) giving the students different choices and options for incorporating technology. Their options might include covering the assigned content through the creation of:
- a class Wiki that becomes an “on-line” textbook,
- a news program/talk show filmed and produced using imovies or Photostory 3,
- a digital story using voice threads or imovies/Photostory 3 and Internet images,
- or an online newspaper or news magazine
In addition to having technology learning integrated within the content areas, I believe that additional classes in specific aspects of technology should be offered. ISB Middle School does this and often I utilize these students as “Tech Experts” during class activities so they can practice their skills and share their knowledge with others. At ISB many of these technology electives are taught by regular classroom teachers, often humanities, math, or science teachers, lending even more support to Kim’s wonderful statement: “We are all technology teachers”.
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